My Hero
by The TrendSetter
Summary: Daya soon became an obsession. Shreya kept looking out for articles on him and read each of them until she learnt it almost by heart... She found herself staring at him all the time. 'The twinkling eyes, the round face on a perfectly chiseled body,... how very masculine he looked….'


Shreya sat at her desk staring at the screen in front of her. Pankaj had prepared the report on their latest case and had handed it over to her to check. It was well written. But her mind was not on it. Yes. She was thinking of Daya. He, along with Abhijeet and Rajat had gone to the capital to attend a conference on 'Curbing Crime against women in India' and she, was missing him.

There was no new case at hand to keep her busy and since Purvi was on leave, she felt very lonely. The boys were going out for dinner and had been kind enough to invite her. She politely declined the offer saying that she did not want to tag along and spoil their fun; but the truth was that her mind was pre-occupied with thoughts about Daya.

Was she in love? Or was it just an excessive adulation she had for him? She didn't know. She hadn't discussed this with anybody – not even her best friends. She was scared. What if they replied in the negative? But Daya did reciprocate her feelings. Like the time he was worried when she fell down in the forest, or the times that he waited for her… Was all of this just care shown to a subordinate?

It was past 11 pm. Nikhil had called to find out if she had reached home. Yes, she had told him. She heard him describe their dinner for a few minutes before she told him that she was sleepy and hung up. The truth was that she was still at the bureau. She couldn't bring herself to get up and go. She was waiting. Daya and the others were due to return that night. And she was sure they would come to the bureau. She was determined to wait, meet him and tell him her feelings before she went home. She continued to stare at the screen as her thoughts went back into the past…

…..

Trrrrriiiiinnnnnnnngggggg!

The alarm went off waking up the entire household. Mama hurriedly pulled her hair into a bun and ran to the kitchen. There was a lot of work to do. Papa ran across to the door to get hold of the newspaper. The sun had risen. The day had started. But one person slept through it all – Li'l Shreya.

'Shreyaaa!', Mama screamed so loudly that all children with the name "Shreya" and even those whose names rhymed with "Shreya", in the neighborhood would have woken up. 'It is almost 8 O'Clock and you are still sleeping. Have you forgotten that you have school today? Wake up. Brush your teeth. Comb you hair', she went on. But no! It made absolutely no difference to Li'l Shreya, for she continued to sleep.

'If that girl doesn't wake up in the next five minutes, I'm going to beat her black and blue', screamed Mama as she stormed into the living room, complete with a flour smeared face, a rolling pin in one hand and a ball of dough in the other, scaring the wits out of poor Papa who sat reading his morning paper. 'Cant you help me wake that girl up and send her to school instead of just sitting here and doing nothing?' she continued.

'I wasn't doing nothing. I was reading the news….' Papa had to leave his sentence midway, for Mama had started yelling again.

He quickly folded his newspaper and made his way to Shreya's room. He knew better than to argue with his angry wife. He sat by the side of her bed and tried to shake her awake, gently calling her name. 'I am not well papa. I want to sleep' she said, with her eyes closed. He looked at the sleeping child in front of him and didn't have the heart to scream at her. She was special to him. Papa was special to Shreya too, that she couldn't continue pretending to sleep when he called out to her. She got out of bed, cuddled in his arms, and told him why she didn't want to go to school, weeping inconsolably all the time.

'Teacher asked us to prepare an essay on "My hero" papa. Priya is going to talk about Superman and Divya about Batman. I don't know whom to talk about. Mama doesn't allow me to watch TV. So I don't know about them and teacher will not believe me if I tell her this.' she said amidst sobs. 'Is that all?' asked Papa, visibly relieved. 'I'll tell you about a hero'; he said carrying her out of her room and into the living room.

'Aren't you going in for a shower yet Shreyaaa?' yelled Mama from the kitchen. 'I'm just teaching her something. She has to say it in class today' Papa replied before lifting Shreya onto his lap and opening the newspaper.

'See, look at this' he said, pointing out to the headlines. 'Inspector Daya nabs dreaded terrorist', read out Shreya. 'Haan.. See', he said now pointing out to the photograph printed beneath the headline. 'This is Inspector Daya. He nabbed the dreaded terrorist single handedly and gave him a punishment for his crime. You know he saved our country from being bombed.' he explained to the little girl on his lap. Now isn't he the real hero? Greater than Priya's fictional Superman and Divya's fictional Batman?' he finished.

Now that made Shreya think. She nodded, her eyes still glued on to the newspaper article. She listened intently to everything Papa said and carried the newspaper along to class to show the others. She made her speech and won the competition too. All thanks to Papa for introducing her to Daya and thanks to Daya for his heroic deeds.

Daya soon became an obsession. Shreya kept looking out for articles on him and read each of them until she learnt it almost by heart. She cut out his pictures from the newspapers and pasted it all over her room. She ate, drank and slept Daya. So it was not a wonder that her essay 'My Hero' won the first place in the inter school essay competition as well. And for that, she received the prize from the President himself.

…..

A smile escaped Shreya's lips as she recollected that moment. Dressed in a black formal skirt and coat, she walked up to the stage as they called out her name… Shreya…

'Shreya.. Shreya… Shreya…'

It was Rajat calling out to her. 'What happened to you? And why are you still here?' he asked surprised. 'Uh.. Uh.. Nothing' she said looking over his shoulders at the clock. It was ten past one. 'Daya sir..?' she questioned looking around. 'He is just coming. He stopped at the corner pav bhajji wala for a bite. Must be coming along now' Rajat replied giving her a naughty smile that made Shreya blush.

No sooner than he had completed his sentence, Abhijeet walked in, followed by Daya. 'Shreya? You? Here? At this time of the night? All ok?' he asked, walking over to her. Abhijeet and Rajat exchanged knowing glances and moved away, not before clearing their throats loudly and talking unconnected nonsense to each other in rather loud voices. It was Daya's turn to blush now. ' Arre yaar Abhijeet…', he began, but Abhijeet was gone and so he turned his attention back to Shreya.

'Why are you still here Shreya?' he asked again. 'Is there a problem? I spoke to Nikhil before getting on to the flight and he told me that you were home. What happened?' 'Sir.. uh.. ahem.. That.. Nothing' she said. She couldn't bring herself to say any more. Especially with Abhijeet and Rajat around. She didn't know if he had the same kind of feelings for her. She didn't know if it was right on her part to even think of her senior like that. She didn't want to make a fool of herself. 'Ok then. Come along. I will drop you home.' he said shrugging his shoulders.

Shreya followed him meekly down to the car. Abhijeet and Rajat were already down with their bags waiting for them. They clambered onto the back laughing, leaving the front seat vacant for Shreya. Abhijeet and Rajat were duly deposited at their respective homes before Daya went on to drop Shreya.

The night was cold. Shreya tightened the scarf around her neck and settled her gaze on Daya who was driving merrily. She soon found herself staring at him. 'The twinkling eyes, the round face on a perfectly chiseled body,... how very masculine he looked….' Screech…. The sudden brakes that Daya had applied disrupted her thoughts. It came in most unexpectedly that, in spite of wearing the seat belt, she was thrown against the windshield due to the impact. Her head hit against the window's open glass and she had a deep gash right across her forehead. The wound soon began bleeding.

'Shreya.. I'm sorry..' said Daya as he got out and reached her side. He took out his handkerchief and held it tight against the wound. The bleeding didn't stop. 'Let me take you to the hospital', he said getting on to the driver's seat again. Her protests sounded very feeble in front of his deep concerned voice and they soon reached the hospital.

They wheeled her in even though she was fit enough to walk. 'Walk when you have hurt yourself?' Daya wouldn't even hear of it.

The doctor came in and bandaged her wound after giving her a first aid and applying an antiseptic. 'We will need to keep you here today for observation' he said. 'I don't foresee any problems. Nor are there any signs of an internal injury. But it is better to be safe than be sorry' he finished. 'Sister!' he called out to the duty nurse. 'Give her a sedative so she can sleep undisturbed'

As she lay in bed, she saw him walk over to Daya and talk to him. She saw Daya thanking him profusely before picking up his phone to call Abhijeet. She watched him talk animatedly to Abhijeet explaining the details of the accident. Even from the bed, she couldn't help but stare at him. Abhijeet and Sachin always teased her and Daya. They paired them whenever they could. And Daya never said anything against it. 'That probably means that he is in love with me as well' she thought to herself. Should she be the one to say it first? Or wait for him, she thought for the umpteenth time that day.

The soft prick on her hand brought her back to reality. The nurse had given her a shot – the sedative. She winced as she turned to her side, rubbing one hand with the other.

Her head soon began feeling heavy and she felt her eyes closing. She held it open forcefully to have one last look at Daya who was outside the door pacing up and down as he waited for Abhijeet. She could feel his concern. She knew he cared. She knew she was special for him – but was she his love interest? She didn't know. She wasn't sure.

But there was one thing she was sure about. That was more than enough to make her happy. And she said that to herself before she let the sedative take effect. 'He was, He is and He will forever be MY HERO'

A/N:

For those of you who wanted a DaReya story from me, Here you go. It may not exactly be how you would want to/like to visualize DaReya, but this was how I always saw it. And since nothing is official as yet, I would like to believe that this is how it all began. Do leave in reviews to let me know what you think.


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